We're No Brady Bunch
by Dante.Eve
Summary: Danny Messer and Lindsay Monroe are finally having a perfect relationship, Their baby is almost born and everything couldn't go smoother. When a case comes up at the Crime Lab, Lindsay and Danny aren't prepared for the bumpy road ahead. My first CSI:NY.
1. My Name is Ellie

Just one more week of school. That's what most kids are thinking now as they sit in their classrooms listening to their teachers talking about something stupid, or about the up coming exams. No one was paying attention anyway so what's the point. The school is hot cause they don't want to pay more money for air conditioning, but they'll pay for new vending machines. Sitting in a sticky room waiting for the last bell could not be more annoying. Ellie Briggs sat in her last period Photography class mindlessly looking at the board with all the pictures throughout the year, and the big One Week Left printed in graffiti on the side. Her pen was poised on her paper as if she was going to do something, but her mind wasn't thinking of doing anything with it. Her brunette hair fell loosely around her face framing her clear alabaster skin perfectly. Ellie's light blue; ice like eyes were moving around the room slowly, wishing something would happen for the last week of school.

It was the last week of the rest of her high school life. She was only a year younger than her class, and happy about that. Her high school life was crap. Now she just wanted something to happen in her last few days of school. She turned over to look at one of her good friends Easton, who was playing with a penny on his desk. She took the piece of paper she had her hand on for a while and wrote a note on it. She aimed it perfectly and flicked it at him, nailing him right in the arm, landing with a thump on the floor. He picked it up and read it while Ellie looked back at the teacher. He wrote something back and flicked it back at her.

When she picked it up she heard a loud sound hitting the window, shattering it into a million pieces. A scream came from behind her before another shot came into the room hitting the blackboard where the one week was. Ellie looked around as some of the kids scattered around the room; running outside, hiding under the desks. She looked from where the shots were coming from before her body fell to the ground. A sharp shooting pain came from her shoulder as she laid there not knowing how she got on the ground. She grabbed at her arm in a split second holding it from the pain. Shots still fired close to her before stopping altogether. Her body just laid there, shaking from the pain. When she finally looked up around the now disorganized room she found only a few people in there. Easton poked his head up from one of the turned over desks and looked at her. As the world around her finally came back into perspective she heard the sound of the bell ringing for a lock down, a few papers rustling in the wind from the shattered window and the cries from a few kids who were in shock of what was happening. Ellie's wish came true, to say the least.

"So what do we have here?" Flack asked as he walked towards Stella Bonasera. It was just another typical day at work for them. They had been paired to work this case today as Mac Taylor was off with Lindsay finishing another case. Stella looked up from her notebook and smiled a little at him.

"Shooting at Bronx school for the Visual Arts. Last week too. Only shot at one classroom, came from the outside. Had about a forty- five degree trajectory angle from a few of the shards of glass. Shot from the roof to the third floor. Only one person hit, seems pretty good for this kind of shooting."

"Where's the vic now?" Stella pointed to the open ambulance. Ellie sat there getting looked after. She was expressionless and pale as the event was playing in her mind over again. Flack nodded to Stella with a smile and walked over. He cleared his throat a little and looked at the paramedic. He understood and patched her up before leaving. Ellie still hadn't come out of her shocked stage yet, making Flack worry about getting the information out of her. He sat where the paramedic once did and looked at her for a moment. Something was familiar about her, but he just could figure it out.

"Um, Miss. Briggs? I'm detective Don Flack. I'd like to ask you a few questions about the incident. Just try and remember everything you can alright?" She looked up at him slightly. He had an attractive face. Sharp features, nice blue eyes, dark combed hair. How is he a detective? Ellie nodded and put back on her brown sweater with a blood stain on it. "What do you remember about the incident between the time the first bullet hit to the last?" There was silence from her for a good long while as the memories came back to her like a flood. But just as quickly as that flood arrived, it vanished and there was nothing left for her to remember.

"There was only one thing I remember. It took approximately forty seconds for the bullet to hit me from the first,"

"How- how can you be sure of that. I mean that is an interesting answer you have there,"

"I counted. I count, in my head, things that happen repeatitively." Flack just nodded and wrote down what she told him.

"How many gun shots did you hear exactly?" Ellie's mouth twitched slightly as she counted the shots she heard.

"Seven. One that hit the window, One hit the blackboard. Another three hit the two desks around me. The one that actually hit me and then after that all I can hear are the shots." Another sigh came from Flack as he wrote down the account.

"And did you see the shooter?" She only shook her head no and looked down.

"Flack? Paramedics said that the bullet is still intact in her arm. All the others are shattered so I think will just take her to Sid and he can get it out." Stella glanced up at Ellie who had the look of terror in her eyes. "It'll be fine. Sid is one of the best Medical Examiner's we have. You don't need to worry." She stated comfortably. Ellie nodded slowly as Flack got out of the ambulance.

"Can I go with her?" A voice came from behind the two of them. Stella turned around and looked to see a tall blonde looking at them with scared eyes.

"And you are?" Flack asked with a questioning look.

"Easton Reed. My family is taking care of her right now."

"Please? He's all I really got right now." Ellie pipped up watching from the truck. Stella nodded towards her letting him come along. He walked towards the car and got in, sitting next to Ellie. The doors closed their view of the school and of the classroom where it all took place.

Lindsay Monroe was sitting on her chair twirling around a little not knowing what to do. Mac and her finished the case way beyond the time they had and now she was forced to sit at her desk and eat peanut M & M's for the rest of her shift. She was already around six months pregnant and Danny was getting way to used to the idea of having a kid. Danny had been looking up Boy names online, his family; it was driving Lindsay crazy. But it was the good kind of crazy. Mac came into the room plopping down the marked file in her box and smiled.

"Having fun?" He asked, an eyebrow slightly raised.

"I'm not sure fun is the right word. M & M?" Mac denied the offer making Lindsay shrug and letting her pop it in her mouth.

"You can go home you know. I'm not forcing you to stay," He sat on the side of the desk and looked around her little office.

"I know, but I kinda like it here. The atmosphere is-"

"A little less crazy without Danny bombarding you with more baby talk?"

"Exactly." A smile grew on both their faces as Lindsay ate more M & M's. She sighed putting down the bag and getting up from the chair. "I think I'm gonna go get some tea. Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm okay. You just go home soon, alright?" She nodded as she walked towards the cafeteria area. Mac got off her desk and wandered back next to his office wondering when the hell he was going to get another case. He smiled as he picked up a picture frame that sat neatly tucked in the corner of his desk. He had his arms wrapped protectively around a blonde haired woman with deep blue eyes. Claire Conrad, married to Mac until the events of 9/11 happened causing her death tragically. He smiled a little remembering the day they took that picture. Before he got to into his thoughts of Claire there was a loud knock on the door. He looked up with a concerned look on his face before seeing it was Dr. Hawkes.

"Hey, Stella just called we have a live one with a bullet in her shoulder." Mac set down the picture and nodded. At least he got himself on a case.

Danny was sitting on the couch at his apartment waiting for Lindsay to get home. He had the whole day off and there was absolutely nothing to do. The house was spotless and there was nothing on TV, not even a damn baseball game! He just sat there thinking of things to do. Staring aimlessly at nothing he started to think maybe work would be a good idea. Danny finally got up and walked out; for the first time wanting to go to work on his day off. He wasn't far from the lab, so walking was not an issue, and on a nice day like this, who wouldn't want to walk.

While walking down the streets of New York he noticed a lot of people with kids. Was it a trend now a days to get pregnant? Crap, he fell into that category now. No, This was a freak accident with the woman he was in love with. It didn't matter if it was planned or not. Yeah, he was perfectly fine with that answer. Walking by a screaming baby and a frantic mother made him think. _Was this going to be us?_ He thought walking quickly past. _Please tell me we're not going to become those types of parents that can't figure out a damn thing about our kid. _He shook his head and kept walking ending up at the lab faster than he had anticipated.

Opening the door; there was a furry of activity around him. He got to the almost full elevator and went up to his floor. Why didn't they call him if they were this busy? He was needed right? He noticed Mac walked towards the autopsy room rather quickly.

"Woah Mac, Slow your roll. What's going on?" Danny asked keeping pace with him.

"Sorry. Up until about a half an hour ago I would have been more than happy too, but now we got ourselves a case, and a pretty big one at that."

"You care to fill me in here, or will I be playing twenty questions?" Mac laughed a little and directed Danny to Autopsy.

"A girl from the Bronx school for the Visual Arts just got shot. The only class to get attacked from the unknown attacker." Mac handed him the file. Danny looked it over for a moment before letting him proceed. "We have a young girl in there now with a still in tacked bullet in her left shoulder. Who ever this person was, was defiantly wanting someone dead. Nearly killed her in the process." They opened the doors to the viewing area of the room. Ellie sat there waiting for Sid to get the bullet out.

"Sucks for her. You said she's graduating?" Mac nodded looking over at Ellie now talking to Easton. "She looks young."

"She's not that young. Only seventeen. She's brilliant though. 4.0 GPA and don't get me started on her SAT scores. She's already accepted into NYU for Writing, full scholarship."

"Hate to see a talent like that go in a second. It said in the file that her parents have disappeared?"

"Her friend had said that her mother disappeared a month ago and they had been taking care of her. He said that she can't stay alone for a long period of time. She has a slight case of separation anxiety which also causes OCD which is shown by her need to count things making our job just slightly easier."

"What about her father?" Danny watched the girl on the table talking away. She had nice eyes. Kinda reminded him of his only had a slight flick of green to them. She looked so damn familiar.

"Her mother was sixteen when she had Ellie. The only thing we got out of her was that she used to live in Australia till she was seven. The only thing she knows about her father was that he lived in New York and that's the reason why they went back."

"Well that's a sucky life."  
"Your tellin' me. Look I gotta go make some calls. Can you assist Sid. Hawkes and Stell went to the school. There's something there to tell us who this shooter is, and what the hell he was shooting at." Mac said his goodbyes before walking away leaving Danny to two teenagers. As he walked in their talking stopped and all eyes were on him.

"Hi, I'm Danny Messer. You must be Ellie and you are?" He looked at Easton who was looking a little protective of Ellie at that moment. He got up, noticing the size of Danny, He would get creamed if he actually tried to defend himself. Easton finally coward down and sighed.

"I'm Easton Reed. I'm taking care of Ellie while her mom is away." Danny just nodded and looked over at Ellie.

"You okay over there?"

"She's not good with more than one guy in the room that could over power her in a minute."

"Gotchea. You want me to leave?"

"It's not that. I think I've seen you before. Maybe, I don't know, never mind." Danny just had one eyebrow up looking at her before Sid walked into the room.

"Alright Ellie, well this is going to hurt I'm not going to lie about that. But I will try and get this over with as fast as I possibly can. You know I normally do this on dead people, it's such a rarity that I operate with a live person."

"Sid, Your going to that uncomfortable place again."

"Sorry." Sid walked towards Ellie cautiously. "Easton right? Would you like to hold her hand. It might be a good idea to try and keep her calm so not to much blood interferes." Easton nodded and walked over to Ellie taking her hand lightly, linking it through his.

"You guys like a couple or something?" Danny spat out not really knowing what he was saying.

"No, we're just good friends." Easton retorted. Danny nodded then watched the procedure go on. Sid was very gentle taking out the bullet from her wound. He hated seeing her flinch every time it hurt her. She was a much different girl than most. She was the kind that you hate seeing hurt and no matter what you just want to make her day brighter any way you could. Danny couldn't stop watching her, it was a strange thing. Every time she did something, like a slight face twitch or hand motion, it reminded her of someone, but he couldn't for the life of him figure it out.

"Alright, your done. Now I'll just stitch you up and you can go on home." Ellie nodded and Sid got up with the bullet to get it to processing.

When he returned it looked like he had something in his hand. "Okay, don't be alarmed but I just talked to Mac and he said that because you are under eighteen we're supposed to contact your parents. Now we know that your mom is gone but we do have a chance at finding your father, but we are going to need some DNA."

"Like a hair sample or a finger nail?" She asked wearily. Sid shook his head and looked down.

"I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to take some blood." You could see the color go right out of her face. There was no way Ellie was ever going to let anyone near her with a needle. "If you want you can lay down?"

"No, please. Can't you just say you tried to find him but can't?"

"I'm afraid we can't lie on the reports. Sorry kid." Danny said sympathetically. His cell rang and he picked it up quickly. One thing he hates about coming down here are the needles he sees. He's just as big of a wuss as Ellie was being. "Messer." He quickly got out of there leaving Sid to do his work. I'm sure he didn't need Danny's help any with that.

Stella had been over every inch of the roof and found absolutely nothing wrong with it. She double checked that it was the right spot for the shot to happen and made triple sure she was in the right location of the school. It was completely clean. Hawkes walked up beside her and looked around.

"Nothing. There is absolutely nothing here to suggest that this was the place of the shooting. no foot marks, no casings. I swear if that girl wasn't shot I would have had to say it was just some stupid last week of school prank." Stella shook her head. She watched the other side of the roof where the classroom was. She could almost see the shooting take place. The only thing she couldn't see was the shooter himself. Hawkes had left her to walk around the roof, there had to have been one clue they missed. From the looks of it, the only access to the roof was from the opposite side.

"In order for the shooter to make a quick get away he would have had to stash the weapon somewhere either on his person or under something here. If the school was already in a lock down they would have easily spotted the gun." Hawkes ran in his head out loud. "So the only way to be able to leave unseen would be to hide the gun." He walked around the perimeter of the roof, his eyes landing on the dumpster of the school below. "Bingo."

Stella waited outside of the dumpster for Hawkes to fish out whatever he was looking for. She paced slowly in front of it looking at her watch every few seconds.

"Hawkes are you done in there or did you get eaten by the mystery meat?"

"Ha ha, very funny," He finally poked his head out of the garbage. "No, Look here." He handed her a shirt covered in yesterday's sloppy Joe's.

"Okay, great. Food fight."

"No, it's what's on it besides the lunch." She just gave him the 'I need the info quick' glance. "Gun powder residue on the shirt, plus check out the symbol. Sonny cleaners."

"Sonny as in-"

"I think Danny should be in on this one."

Lindsay had made herself quite comfortable in the cafeteria. She had called Danny to come join her after hearing he had made a stop off at work. Flack had joined her after getting himself some coffee and Adam had already been there eating his lunch while listening to his Michael Jackson.

"So this new case we're working looks to be a long one. The girl doesn't look like she's able to talk, and the guy, he's protecting her from anyone and everyone. All the others talk just as much as the girl."

"Why don't you offer her candy. Kids like candy don't they?" Adam asked looking up from his sandwich.

"Now you just sound like a kidnapper Adam." He shrugged and continued to eat. "All's I know is that unless Stella comes up with something, that chick in there is useless."

"Where are her parents?" Lindsay asked in her motherly tone. She more or less acquired it over the months of her pregnancy.

"Gone. Well at least the mother is. I guess being a teen mom was not the glamour she thought." Flack took a sip of his coffee and looked around at the furry of activity. It had been come busy in the past half hour; they hated days like that.

Danny walked into the cafe looking around before landing his eyes on his beautiful wife. He smiled walking over to join in on the conversation.

"Looks like you guys are working hard."

"At least someone appreciates the work we do." Flack said with a smile. "Get anywhere with the child prodigy?"

"Nah, she ain't talking. Pissed scared though. She'll come around. Did Stell come back?" Shakes of heads made Danny sit down in between Lindsay and Adam.

They all waited in the cafe for a good hour before Stella came back with the evidence. Hawkes and Stella walked towards the group and held up the shirt with the logo showing Danny.

"Look who's back in town." Stella stated looking at Danny with worried eyes.

"We caught him. He went away for a long while, how can he be-"

"It could just be someone that works there, but Danny- it's his company. There was a reason they were shooting that classroom. Linds can you get this into processing?" Lindsay nodded and got up following Hawkes who carried the shirt. "Danny, I think you gotta talk to Sonny about this."

"Oh no. No way Stell. I can't talk to that man. I swore I was done with the whole gang."

"I know but if it's gonna help us-"

"It's not. There not going to rat out the guy that shot the school. He won't say anything to that sort." Stella sighed and nodded. "We'll have more of a chance figuring it out on our own."

Lindsay had more than enough to do as soon as she got to the office. Blood work of the victim, the bullet and of course the shirt. She sat down and got right to work on the shirt, looking for any DNA to connect with the shooter. After taking off the food the she could from the shirt she examined it from head to toe. Danny walked into the room and slipped is hands around her stomach.

"You got anything on the shirt yet?" He asked kissing her neck lightly.

"The shirt that Hawkes had found in the dumpster did have traces of gun powder residue consistent with our 9mm from the bullet. But the only thing is, our suspect wasn't wearing the shirt. The patterns on the shirt suggest that the gun was wrapped up in it when it was fired; obviously to hide it out of site. Now the blood splatter on the side of the shirt could only be caused from a cut on the suspects hands when he gripped the gun to shoot; our main suspect got his hands a little bloody from the powder of the gun shots"

"DNA hooks us with a suspect. Good job Montana. You need any help with the other evidence?"

"If you want to start working on the blood work of Ellie. She's in Mac's office waiting to go home."

"So why don't they let her? It's gonna take hours to get the blood back."

"Mac doesn't want her to go home, just in case. He's looking for the other kids in the class. He was looking for someone."

"Yeah and by the looks of it he was looking for someone right around where Ellie was sitting." Adam said walking into the room. He was holding one of the laptops with a computer generated crime scene of the classroom. "The shot happened around here," He pointed where the simulated gun shot was fired. "Now according to where the bullets landed we can figure out that the shooter was looking for someone around this area." The simulation grew a large semi circle around the window."

"Great, you just narrowed it down to half the classroom. That still leaves around twelve kids that could have been the hit."

"Not necessarily. Look," He opened up another file with the names of the kids that sat around the window. "In order to be associated with the Tanglewood Boys like you said Danny, They would have to have lived around the same place. None of these kids lived or used to live in Staten Island. All but two." He pulled up the simulation again and zoomed in. "Zach De Luca and of course our own Ellie Briggs. Briggs is an Australian last name defiantly not common with Staten Island, but Italian, more common. Zack sat two seats in front of Ellie-"

"Which could mean we found our almost victim." Danny interjected. Adam nodded and looked at him for a moment before back down at the simulation playing again. "So I guess we better go talk to Mr. Zach De Luca." Danny and Adam started walking out of the processing room. Lindsay put up her hands looking at them.

"Danny, you were going to help me with the blood work?" He looked back at her and winced. "Go. I'll do it. But when you get back, your going to be doing a lot more than helping me process." He smiled kissing her cheek then jutted off to go find Zach.

Ellie sat in Detective Mac Taylor's office with a book in her hand. She saw it laying on Sid's desk and thought it looked interesting. Easton was sitting next to her watching people walk past. All Ellie wanted to do was go home but from Mac's words, It was better safe than sorry, whatever that means. She put down the book down when she reached page forty and looked at Easton.

"You got to page forty already?" She nodded and Easton smiled. "You ever going to finish a book?"

"You know one that's forty pages long?" A small laugh escaped Easton. Ellie looked over out the window of Mac's office. Easton watched as she counted out forty people that past. One of them was a bit of a red head. He had an interesting walk, almost as if he was dancing to music. He turned slightly to Mac's room and walked inside.

"It's the Eye Of The Tiger. It's the cream of the fight, rising up to the challenge of the rivals," Adam sung putting down a file on his desk. As he turned around he noticed the two teens staring at him. "Woah. Sorry. Didn't realize anyone was in here." The kids didn't say anything just awkwardly sat there. "War of the Roses? This is a pretty heavy read. You liking it so far?" Adam asked noticing the book in Ellie's hand.

"I just got to page forty. But it seems good."

"Well when you finish it, let me know what you thought of it. It's one of my favorite books." He smiled this awkward smile to her.

"I finished reading it." He looked at her for a moment.

"But I thought you said-"

"I can only read books up until page forty."

"She has OCD. She can only count to forty, do things forty times over-" Easton clarified for him.

"Gotcha. So those gun shots must have really annoyed you." She nodded.

"I had to count to forty as soon as I started hearing the shots." Adam thought for a moment before he excused himself quickly.

Adam walked down to the police floor and walked over to Flack's desk. He was out at the moment but the right file was on his desk. Adam picked it up and looked at the police report of Ellie's account. He looked it over and noticed that it took the shooter forty seconds from the first shot to the time she hit her. Adam sighed taking the file and walked towards the processing room. This was going to get interesting.

Mac was sitting down just outside his office watching Ellie count the things on his desk. He turned his head slightly watching her take something off and put it on the shelf behind her. Adam sat next to him and watched as well for a few minutes. There was something serene about watching her organize Mac's desk.

"Mac. I think your gonna wanna hear this." Adam finally pipped in looking at him.

"There's something intriguing about her. Watching her go about her routine. Doing something out of compulsion."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. In her report it said she told Flack it took the bullet forty seconds for it to hit her from the first. Now she told me that she couldn't read past page forty in the War of the Roses. The guy also said she counts to forty, does things over forty times. She has a complete obsession with forty. I'm not so sure we can believe that it took forty seconds from the first bullet till it hit her. For all we know it could have been the first."

"Adam, why does that matter?" He sighed and looked at Ellie who was now counting everything on the table next to the desk.

"I'm just saying OCD changes peoples perception. We can't rely on what she said about the incident." Mac nodded and kept watching.

"Even if it doesn't match, the shots were fired. It's just up to us to figure out who was shooting, and who they were shooting at."

Danny and Flack had driven all the way to Staten Island, through traffic and grid lock just to find Zach. They had gone to his home near the school but his mother had said he went to visit his aunt for a few days. Danny was in the passengers seat navigating his old town. He knew every street name and exactly where to go. Zach's aunt was living a few streets away from Danny's old home. He laughed as soon as Flack turned down the street.

"What's so funny?" Flack asked looking over at his best friend.

"Nothing just... all these memories are coming back to me now. This is the same street Becca Collins lived on."

"Becca Collins? Sounds hot."

"She was. I never knew what happened to her though. One day we were going out, happy couple and what not, the next I go out with my brother and when I come back after the weekend, she was gone. No one knew where she went. Her parents wouldn't tell me anything, just vanished."

"Ouch. You guys get into it?" His eyebrow went up and a small smirk crawled across his face.

"Only once. She was all about the waiting till you get married. I changed her mind about that... then she left."

"Well that stings," He stopped across from the home of Zach's aunt. "We're here."

"Great, let's get this thing over with." Danny was the first out of the car and up the driveway of the home. He knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. Flack made it up the driveway just in time to see Zach open the door.

"Yeah?" He asked in his New York accent. He looked like a regular teen. Baggy clothes; A deep florescent blue top with Volcom written on it, dark blue jeans ten times the size they should be and no belt. He had shaggy brown hair that should really be getting cut soon.

"Zach De Luca? I'm Detective Danny Messer and this is detective Don Flack, we just want to talk to you about the shooting that happened early today?"

"What do you wanna know?"

"Are you aware of a group called The Tanglewood Boys?" Danny asked quickly.

"Yeah. But everyone does. There not exactly secretive here. But other than that I'm at a loss."

"Does anyone in your family associate with them?"

"My cousin used to before he found out about Sonny and Louis." Flack looked over at Danny who noticeably flinched. "After that my cousin didn't want anything to do with Sonny."

"Have you come into any contact with Sonny in the last month?" Flack continued. Danny was not in the position to continue questioning as soon as his brother was put into the mix.

"No. I haven't seen him since my cousin quit three years ago."

"Is your aunt at home right now, or your cousin?"

"Nah, my aunt went to the grocery store and my cousin is in California, been there for two weeks." He stood a little slumped, obviously not afraid of either Flack or Danny.

"Do you know a girl of the name Ellie Briggs?"

"Yeah, she's in my photography class. Is she okay? I heard someone got hit. I got out of the classroom after the first two or three shots."

"She's fine now. Um. Thanks for your time. Anything else you can recall, or if Sonny or anyone from the Tanglewood boys try and contact you. Give us a call alright?"

"Yeah thanks." He took the card Flack held out and looked at it before pocketing it. Danny didn't say anything else just walked back towards the car. Flack did a few seconds after and got into the car. They sat there in complete silence for a long time.

"Danny. I don't know what to say man. I really don't."

"Then don't say anything. I'll be fine. We just need to figure this out before someone else gets hurt because of Sonny."

"If Zach's cousin was in the Tanglewood boys and got out of there, Sonny might want to mess with his cousin a bit, you know show what he could loose if he says anything, or hell do anything against them." Danny didn't answer. Just thought about his brother. "But, you do know that if Zach wasn't the one that was targeted, Ellie was," Danny just nodded his head and looked out at nothing. Flack could tell Danny went to that little place in his head that he sometimes went to when he needed to be alone. Flack understood and turned on the car ready to go back to the crime lab.

Lindsay was busy working away diligently on processing the evidence. She was in her own little world laughing a little each time the baby kicked. Hawkes came in a few times to give her a hand as well as Adam. They just finished the blood work and was just waiting for the results when Mac came into the room.

"Danny and Flack just called. They talked to Zach De Luca. They're still not sure if it was him Sonny was shooting at." The three stopped and looked up at him. "Lindsay, Could you be the one to talk to Ellie about her involvement with Sonny?"

"Sure Mac." She just smiled and got up from the chair. Walking down the hallway she stopped off at the vending machine. Maybe Adam was right. Maybe candy was the way to worm into the heart of kids. She always loved candy when she was Ellie's age, why not? She paid for Gummie Bears and kept walking to Mac's room.

Ellie was sitting on the couch drawing something on a paper. She was getting more bored by the second. She had satisfied her annoyance for everything that was not forty and now she just sat back and enjoyed the moment of drawing. Easton had gone to the cafe to get something to eat for the two of them. Lindsay walked in softly watching her draw. It was like she was in her own little world when she drew. Her focus was dead on drawing whatever it was. Linds sat down and opened the bag a little.

"Ellie?" She asked softly not trying to scare her. She didn't look up for a long period of time till she signed her name on the page.

"Yeah?" She only said when she finally looked up. Her smile lit up the room. She did not look like the kid that came into the crime lab earlier today; scared and timid. She had this nice glow to her that Lindsay took as odd. She had felt that glow before. That loving, withdrawn almost glow. She couldn't remember where she felt it before but it was recent. She pushed her thought out of her mind and handed the bag to Ellie.

"You hungry?" Ellie looked at the bag for a moment before taking a few red ones. "Your a fan of the red I see. I'm more of a green girl. So how you holding up?"

"Okay. As good as I can right now." Ellie shrugged. She popped one in her mouth and started to chew.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ellie just looked at her. "Do you know someone by the name of Sonny Sassone?" Ellie stopped chewing.

"Yeah," She stopped short for a moment. "Well not personally. He came over to my house a week before my mom left. I answered the door. He wanted my mom. I don't know for what. He seemed nice though." Lindsay just nodded and ate another gummie bear.

"Other than that you have no idea who he is?" Ellie just shook her head and played with one of her bears. "Ellie, where's your mother now?"

"On a business trip."

"When is she going to get back and do you have a number I can reach her so we can tell her what's going on back at home." Ellie had put her head down but kept playing with her gummie bears. "Ellie?"

"I don't have a number. I don't know where she is. She just left. Didn't take much, but the car and a few clothes. Didn't tell me where she went... just left." Lindsay sighed leaning back in the seat. How could a mother do that to her kid. That was completely unfair. " Didn't even get to say goodbye to her in the morning she was already gone."

"No note?" Ellie shook her head, not even looking at Lindsay at all. Lindsay put down the bag of gummie bears and sat in the silence. She bit the side of her cheek thinking of why her mother would ever do that to her.

"It's been over a month since I last saw her. That's when I started counting to forty. The last thing I ever saw my mother do was count out forty dollars before putting it in her wallet. I can't get forty out of my head. I just start counting forty things. Hoping it's a clue or a way to tell my mother to come and get me. I don't know. I just want to keep counting forty things." Ellie had tears streaming down her face as she finally looked up at Lindsay. She could tell the distress in her voice as she spoke. Lindsay got up from her chair and made her way over to Ellie. She sat down next to her and just hugged her. She couldn't see Ellie like that anymore, she couldn't see her cry. "The only parent I've ever known left me. Am I that much of a mistake?"

Danny and Flack got back to the lab slower than anticipated. After a call from Mac stating that they now had a missing person's in the case they were pretty annoyed with the traffic. Lindsay had gotten all the information she could from Ellie about her mother before she couldn't handle the questioning. They all met in processing to talk about the case.

"Alright, what do we know so far about this case?" Mac asked waiting for all the clues to be put together.  
"Ellie was the target in the shooting by one of Sonny's men. A month and a half prior she gets an unexpected visit from him, a week later, she was gone." Lindsay said as Mac wrote it down on the board.

"We know that her mother had some thing going on with Sonny years before, the connection is still unknown. Ellie said she thought she heard something about her as a baby, but it's still unclear." Lindsay told Mac again writing it down.

"Do we know the name of Ellie's mother?" Mac asked looking at the board.

"She said it was Becca Briggs but her last name was different. She changed the name when they got to Australia."

"Stella, can you call the US consulate in Australia, see if they have any record of a Becca Briggs as a changed name." Stella nodded and wrote it down in her book. "Danny, I want you and Lindsay to keep her safe. I know you guys can hide her better than her friend can. If Sonny knows where she goes to school, chances are he knows where she's living know." Lindsay smiled and nodded, Danny didn't do much. "Flack, can you make sure there are officers around the school for when she goes back, not so many that they are distracting, just enough to get her through the last week of school. If the Tanglewood Boys are involved in this case, we wanna know why. See if you can go talk to Sonny about this, or one of his associates. Don't go over board, say you can link the bullets to one of his men in the school shooting, maybe get one of them to crack." They all nodded before getting into gear. "Lindsay, You better go home. Take Ellie with you, she needs rest just as much as you do. Danny see to it both of them get home safe."

"You got it boss." He grinned before helping Lindsay out of the room. Lindsay looked up at her husband and smiled.

"At least Ellie won't be in so much danger anymore." Danny just nodded. He was still thinking. That name; Becca having an association with Sonny. The only one he knew that was in association was the one he fell in love with when he was sixteen. This was all getting to strange for Danny. Now this kid gets into trouble with Sonny and the mother disappears just as fast as his Becca did those years ago. It made him wonder.

"You think... Never mind." Danny shook his head quickly before walking into Mac's room. He took a good hard look at Ellie for the first time. She remind him so much of Becca Collins, but there was something so different about her, something so familiar.

"Ellie? Mac said it would be better if you would come home with us instead." Ellie was sitting next to Easton looking up at them with confusing eyes. "I know it's not the greatest but if Sonny knows where your going to school, chances are he'll know where your staying." Lindsay clarified.

"Yeah, and we would like to help you out you know. Be closer if you need us for anything." Danny said with a small smile. Easton grabbed Ellie's hand and brought it closer to him.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Danny moved his glance over to Easton. Why the hell wouldn't he let her go. "I mean then we can't take care of her and you guys don't know her at all."

"Yes, but she would be a sitting duck if we let her go home with you." Danny said watching him as he uncomfortably sat there.

"East, maybe I should just go." His grip tightened and she flinched a little taking away her hand.

"Woah, Okay. Ellie, get up; we're taking you home with us." Danny said sternly. Ellie got up looking at Easton. Danny took Ellie's hand checking it out before walking with them out of the office slowly. Ellie slightly looked back at Easton who was just staring at her. She turned back around and looked down at the floor, counting out forty tiles.


	2. A Long Days Night

**A/N: Second chapter! YAY! sorry this one took so long. It's been a busy holiday season. Working on Chapter 4 now, chapter 3 will be up soon, I promise. Please review it's what keeps me going. xox**

** A long days night.  
**

Ellie was sitting down on her new bed looking at all the paintings around her room. It didn't look like the rest of the house she saw when she was taking the tour. Simple loft apartment; unfinished walls, furniture from IKEA. It was more Danny's style then this room, at least that's what Ellie thought. But this room was completely different. Much more warm and inviting. Ellie was starring at one of the walls across from her. She could name each one of the paintings and who it was painted by. There was one that she couldn't name. She sat there staring at this rather good painting of the New York Skyline. She didn't hear the door open for the feel someone sit beside her.

"Good isn't it?" Ellie jumped slightly looking at who came into the room. Danny looked at her with a small smile. "My old girlfriend did that for me for my birthday. I didn't want to throw it away, it was to perfect."

"Yeah, I noticed. Perfect scale, it looks pro." She turned her attention back to the painting. "So what's with the room? I mean, it's different from any other room in the apartment."

"That's Lindsay's doing. She wanted to redecorate one room in the apartment and she chose this one." Ellie nodded. Her concentration on the picture was intense. She studied every line, stroke and texture she could see. "You okay over there?"

"You can tell by the way your ex painted this she was unsure of some of her strokes. See you can tell there's little waves where it should be a line. Not like it ruined the painting, but it shows that she was unsure that what she was really seeing was really... there, you know?" Danny studied her then laughed.

"You know, you got a gift for detail." She nodded but didn't say anything. "You want dinner? We're thinking of take-out."

"Really? I'm not one for it but I guess so."

"We got pizza, Chinnese, sushi, and of course burgers all in walking distance. Now Lind's wants Chinnese but I'm looking at a Big Mac like it's the last thing I'll ever eat. What about you?"

"I'm more of the salad type of girl. Anything vegetarian I'm down." She didn't quite look at him as she spoke but she smiled a sweet smile. She didn't know why she was talking so much, there were only two people that have ever heard her babel on for more than a few sentences, Her mom and Easton. They sat there in silence for a long time before Danny couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright. Lind's and I are gonna go get the food. You wanna come with us?"

"If it's alright, I think I'm gonna stay here and draw a bit." Danny got up slowly from the bed and smiled.

"No problem. You got your back pack and such right?" She nodded once more and dropped her foot to grab the loop of her bag. "I'll leave our cell phone numbers by the phone so you can call if you need us for anything. Who ever is after you, they ain't findin' you here okay?" He patted her on the shoulder before leaving her to draw.

Lindsay was already waiting for Danny by the door. She swung her bag in her hands and sighed. She thought back to this afternoon when he told Ellie to get away form Easton. It was strange how father like he sounded. She guessed he was getting ready for his own kid. She smiled at that thought as Danny walked into the hallway.

"Ready to go?" She nodded, the smile never leaving her face. Danny's eye twitched a little looking at her. "What's with the smile?" he laughed a little.

"No reason. You just- suprise me that's all." She took his hand and walked down the hallway of the apartment building. "I mean. Your being so nice to Ellie, that's what she needs right now."

"Ey, it's nothing. She's a nice girl. I don't trust that guy she's with. There's something that pisses me off about him." He pressed the button to go down to the first floor. This was their weekly routine. Get Chinnese every Monday night. Danny never thought that he would be living the new married life like this. Some days he still thought of what he was gonna do as soon as he got home. Watch baseball and eat three day old pizza. But when he looked at Lindsay his thoughts instantly went to what should THEY do that night. Lindsay was doing quite well living in New York now. She loved all the lights and the traffic, something she couldn't find that easily in Montana. When they walked into the elevator a sense of calm, normalicy washed over them. Being in the CSI it's not exactly the most normal job; its dangerous. They sat in silence as the elevator went down. Danny never figured out why people just stop talking when they get into elevators. It pissed him off not knowing. Once the door opened and they were out into the lobby there were tones of different noises around them.

"So I'm thinking about going back home. You know, let my parents see me before I blow up. Plus my mom would kill me if I didn't." They were walking down the street, people moving around the couple as they passed.

"Really? Uh, when do you think you're going to head out?" Lindsay shrugged, she wasn't sure. She wanted to go soon, she hadn't seen her mom in so long, she really missed her the most.

"Soon I hope. Maybe you can come with me. After this case?" She heard Danny sigh. He didn't know if that was a good idea. He was the one that impregnated their daughter. Who knows, he might just get the shit kicked out of him as soon as he walks into the house.

"Ye- yeah, of course I'll come." Oh god no, Please Lindsay don't let me go! He said in his head. He loved her family, all the stories she's told him and the pictures, they seem like nice people, but getting into a room with them, with their situation? He wasn't exactly ready for that. Lindsay smiled walking towards the almost full restaurant.

"You know, she kinda looks like you. Not the hair, but I can see the eyes kinda resemble you."

"What are you talking about Lindsay?" Danny asked as he walked up to the counter to order food, remembering to get some vegetables.

"Ellie. Of course she's not yours, but- maybe that's what our girl will look like."

"It has to be a boy Linds. My mother had two boys, so did my grandmother, it's in the Messer genes." She had to roll her eyes and sigh, giving up on his stubbornness. "Speaking of; what do you think of Louie? Or Jordan?" She just nodded looking at the menu.

"Sounds great. Hey, can we get Order 3, please?"

"And an extra side of Veggie stir fry?" He added pulling out his wallet. The guy at the counter nodded before ringing up the order.

"You know, having Ellie here, it's good practice." Lindsay said turning to Danny.

"For what just in case our son decides to bring home a chick?"

"No, in case... hypothetically speaking, we have a girl, she could give you some practice with teenage girls." Danny just sighed. He was still positive that he was going to have a boy, and hell he would prefer a boy instead. He can't handle all those girl issues.

"Hypothetically speaking, if we did have a girl, yes it's a good thing Ellie is here." Danny took out forty bucks and set it on the counter.

"Are you sure your not going to talk to Sonny, or at least one of Sonny's associates?" Lindsay asked.

"That would only be my last resort. I don't want to talk to them unless we know for sure either Zach or Ellie is related to Sonny somehow." Lindsay just nodded. Danny was dead sent on not seeing or talking to Sonny unless he had too. He wasn't sure what would happen. Would he go after Sonny and ruin the case? He couldn't do that. He had to know he wasn't going to jeopardize the case in any way. Lindsay sat on one of the tables picking up a sugar pack. She didn't want to say more, it's been a hard day for Danny.

They came back quicker than expected. Danny noticed the door to Ellie's room was opened slightly and she was sitting on the ground drawing intensely. They let her draw as they got everything ready. Lindsay was already unloading the food when Danny walked in.

"You go get Ellie, I'll finish here." Lindsay said looking up to Danny with a smile. "make her feel welcome, not isolated." She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him in slightly.

"Good practice, I know." He laughed kissing her forehead lightly. "You sure don't want help?"

"I'm pregnant, not incompetent." Lindsay smiled. Danny nodded and walked away towards Ellie's room.

The floor was filled with paper, scribbles of colours and black and white. Big pieces of paper and small, she was on a roll. When Danny walked in she was working on a large drawing. She kept scribbling around, stopping to look at it before fixing something. You could feel the tension come off her.

"Hey, where back. You uh, you hungry?" Danny asked trying not to disturb her as she was drawing. She sat there for a while before she looked up.

"How did she do it? How did she do the skyline so perfectly? I've tried to recreate it, but no matter what, I just can't. I can do Monet pretty well, not great mind you but I can do it, her's, I can't at all. It was like perfection was by accident. That can't happen." It sounded like she was panicking. Why was she freaking out about the painting?

"She um... Well I don't know, she was good I can tell you that."

"That's the problem. I've thought about all the different strokes she did, the textures she created. Mind you I'm doing it with pencil crayons and pens, but you can still recreate some of the texture, her's you can't." She slumped down in defeat. Danny walked into the room more and sat down next to her. He counted the pictures, forty of them all lay scattered around the room.

"You think maybe somethings are better left alone?"

"Yeah but, I like to know how people paint things, draw them. I'm facinated by the different strokes they make, what they were thinking when they make the each line. I don't know, I'm strange."

"Nah, your not strange. Everyone has there thing. I like to make simulations on the computer of crime scenes. But don't tell anyone that." Ellie laughed a little. It was nice to hear a laugh come out of her. "Ey, you laughed." Ellie put her head down, shyly. "You should laugh more often-" Danny was going to say something else but there was a knock on the door making him stop. He sighed and looked at the door. "I'll get it!" He said so Lindsay could hear. "You know your really interesting." Danny reverted back to the conversation. "You shouldn't let anything hold you back from being that interesting person you only let out a few times. He walked out of the room and opened the door. He turned to see who it was and was greeted by the one person he didn't want to at all.

"Hey Danny boy." Danny's hard stare said it all. He was having a hard time keeping it cool. "I would ask how your doing but your face says it all. What you still pissed at me for-"

"I dare you to finish that sentance." Sonny clicked his tongue once and sighed.

"Business then. I came here to talk to you. It seems, from a very reliable source that I'm under wrap for something that I didn't do. Now I'm here to make sure that my ass is not on the line."

"We found a shirt from your cleaning business, you may or may not be on the wrap for what ever you think is going on. Now if you'll excuse me Sonny, I have to go have dinner with my wife."

"Right, cause your hitched now." he laughed at that, moving his eyes around the hallway inside. "So where is your lovely wife?" He stopped when he saw something move from the corner of his eye. Something small poke it's head out from the door. Ellie looked to see who it was and saw Sonny's eyes staring at her. Danny looked to see what he was staring at before looking back at Sonny.

"I think it's time to leave Sonny." Sonny's mouth dropped slightly seeing Ellie by the door. His face was twisted in disbelief and annoyance. "Sonny! Leave." Danny started pushing him out, closing the door right in his face. Ellie just watched as Danny walked back to her room. Her eyes went wide wondering what he was going to do. It was like a few years ago, her mom's ex boyfriend. He never liked Ellie. Used to freak her out when he got particularly mad at her for them not being able to have sex. That was the walk she saw now, the pissed off, your gonna get it walk. She moved back from the door and watched Danny walk into the room. "Was that who you saw the day before your mother left?" She just looked up at Danny for a moment. This wasn't the same guy that freaked her out before. He was a good guy. She nodded quickly, her eyes wide trying not to show how vulnerable she was.

Danny saw how she was acting and loosened up a bit. It was Sonny, He always got the best of Danny and it pissed him off. He sighed a little and looked down.

"You okay?" He asked a little more softer. Ellie took a deep breath and smiled a little nodding.

"Yeah, caught off guard, that's all." He nodded and looked at the door.

"You wanna go get dinner before it gets cold? I doubt chinnese has the same effect after it's been sitting out for a little bit." Ellie got up slowly and walked out with him. _Danny was the good guy. _

Flack, Stella and Mac all stayed back going over the crime scene they had constructed. Stella kept looking back at the shirt. The blood came back positive. His name was Tegan Russo. She set the photo down and looked at the shirt. He was in his early twenties only one other offense, Assault with a weapon. He lived in Staten island but now resides not to far from the school. It was still quite early in the evening, cops still around waiting for orders or call-in's. She called Flack to go see if he could get Tegan into interrogation. She picked up the phone and dialed his number, tapping a pen along the table quickly.

"Flack," He said picking up the phone. His voice seemed a little tired to Stella.

"Hey Flack, Can you bring in Tegan Russo into interrogation?"

"Got an address?" He yawned into the phone. Not very professional but he didn't get enough sleep the night before, all he wanted to do was go home. Stella sighed and picked up the photo from the database and looked it over.

"2283 Matthews Avenue." Flack wrote down the address and threw his pen down. Why can't he be on look out of Ellie? He'd much rather get paid to sleep right now. "You think you can handle it?"

"I'm fine. Just tired s'all. I'll get your guy." He hung up the phone and got up ready to get this thing over with. As long as the bugger didn't run away he was okay with it.

Mac came into the room Stella was working in and looked at the shirt. His eyebrow raised at the sight of old sloppy joe's and mustard stains on it.

"I see you at least got something from the shirt?"

"Blood came back positive for a suspect, Tegan Russo. Used to live in Staten Island but now, only lives a few blocks away from the school. Flack is going to get him now."

"Did you find any other evidence we could use?" Stella shook her head.

"Who ever shot Ellie was good. He knew what he was doing. I was thinking about going back to the school tomorrow, get Flack to cover Ellie while she's at school while I look around a little more, see if we didn't get something. Mac just nodded, looking at the shirt. The Word 'Sonny' was clear, staring at him. He knew Sonny had something to do with this all.

"Hows it coming on missing persons?" Mac added, still looking at the shirt.

"We have five Becca Briggs as a changed name. The consult is FedExing over the files now. Seems they run a tight ship with changing their names. They have to go through a lot; have to get their pictures taken, copies of their former passports, birth certificates, it's impressive. We should have them by the morning."

"Good, Alright. I'll be in my office-"

"Why don't you go home? We got everything covered here."

"I got some more work to do." Stella just looked at Mac for a long while there was something bugging him, she knew it, but couldn't figure it out. He walked out of the processing room and walked quickly back to his office.

It was now passed dinner time and Flack wanted food. He had passed three McDonalds, and two pizza places. He kept driving to the location Stella told him, trying not to think about the Denny's that's coming up. His stomach grumbled as he looked away from the nice sign that was staring at him. He shook his head as he finally turned down Matthews Avenue. He ducked down looking for the apartment, stopping short once he found it. Flack turned off the car and got out heading for the man that was out on the stairs looking at his mail.

"Excuse me? Do you know if Tegan Russo is home?" The guy looked up. Early twenties, looks like a collage dropout. He gulped once then shook his head.

"Nah, Russo ain't home." Flack's eyebrow twitched a bit. His glance landed on the envelope he was holding. 'Tegan Russo' That lying sack of-

Before Flack could finish his thought Tegan ran down the stairs not stopping when he hit ground. Flack growled as he followed the guy. Tegan ran through ally ways, chucking garbage cans and other objects at Flack to slow him down. Flack wasn't impressed, he was definately not in the mood, this guy was going down, hard. He ran out of the ally and into the street almost getting hit by a car doing so. Flack stopped the car when he reached the road and kept running. Tegan headed right for a busy corner but tripped not looking where he was going. Someone stupidly left their skateboard on the ground while they were looking at a newspaper, lucky for Flack. Before Tegan got up he felt a shadow in front of him. When he finally looked up he saw Flack with a pissed off face.

"Shouldn't have done that." He said as he picked the guy off the floor handcuffing him when he was on his feet. He walked him all the way back to the car, Tegan fighting his way out. Clearly he sucks at being caught. As Flack sent Tegan to the back of the car he pulled out his cell to let Stella know. "I got your guy." He said after Stella picked up her phone. "He's a pain in the ass I can tell you that."

"Great. Bring him to interrogation."

"You got it." He slammed the car door and headed for the drivers seat, closing his phone.

Stella was waiting as soon as Flack arrived at the lab. She was ready for any sort of trick Tegan might pull. She opened the door of the car and took the guys arm tightly throwing him out. She didn't say anything as she led him to the small dark room where so many of their favorite people have come in to have a chat.

She sat him down on the cold metal chair and walked to the other side of the desk. She was definately not in a playing mood, but by the smirk on his face, he definately wanted to play a few games with her. She rolled her eyes and set the file down.

"Where were you earlier today... around 2:30 pm?"

"At home, doing what I do best." Stella's scoff was dripping with impatience. She shook her head a few times before her glance was back on his.

"That's not the answer I was looking for." She opened the file and took out a picture of the shirt. She set it down in front of him and watched his eyes. "What was your blood doing on this shirt, on the roof of a school?"

"How would I know? I lost that shirt about a week ago." He threw the picture back.

"See, I don't think so. What's your connection with Sonny Sassone?"

"My employer. Why would that matter?"

"If we found your shirt, at a crime scene, it matters. This shirt was used in a shooting today, a girl got hurt, could have been killed. But you wouldn't want to hurt a girl now would you?" HIs eyes darted around him. He knew what was behind the glass, a fresh cop ready to take his ass back to Rikers'.

"I didn't do anything okay? I lost that shirt when I was moving some stuff out of my ex's apartment. My bud Ryder was helping me."

"We'll have to confirm that. So why is there blood on the shirt then."

"I work at a cleaners. Do you really expect it to be all washing and drying? We got hazards too." He sighed. "I slipped and impaled my hand on a wire hanger." She looked at the hand a small white bandage wrapped around the wound."

"So why is it covered if you did that a week ago?"

"I split it open again, what is not bleeding to death a crime now?" Stella turned away and looked at the glass to Flack.

"Can we see the cut?" Tegan sighed and unwrapped his hand. It didn't look to bad, but it did look like he split it open some time soon. Stella closed the file and nodded. "Thanks." She walked out without another word. She met up with Flack who was looking now tired. "Let's let him stew a bit, there's something not quite right about him. Why don't you go, I'll stay here and work on him a little bit. Beside you gotta get up early. Don't want to be late for class now do we?" Flack just grumbled something before saying his goodnight and jetting off to go get some food. Finally.

Ellie had a horrible night sleep. She dreamt of her mother, laying on an operating table, but it was more for an autopsy. She watched everything; from the incisions, to a man poking around inside to see what she died from. It was all so vivid, it was to scary.

She awoke to the sound of the alarm ringing in her ear. As her eyes jutted open she realized this wasn't Easton's home. A slight panic arose from her as she thought about where she was. Nothing came to mind. It wasn't until she saw the painting, the one she marveled over for hours, recreating some of the painting on her own paper, trying to get the curves just right, the lines perfect. She smiled at it finally becoming calm. She had slept in her clothes the whole night, she hated doing that. When she finally got out of bed she heard the door open. Lindsay poked her head in and smiled a warm smile.

"Hey, your up. The shower is all yours if you want it, I found some clothes you might be able to wear, might being the key word, they could be a little loose for you. Breakfast is also ready in the kitchen for whenever you like." Ellie nodded with a slight smile. This sort of kindness you could never get out of a true New Yorker. She thanked Lindsay who gave her the clothes before walking off to let Ellie have her privacy. She looked at the clothes, quite conservative but they were clothes, she was grateful. Ellie walked out of the room and went to go take a quick shower.

Once she was all ready she walked out into the kitchen where Danny and Lindsay were sitting down eating what looked like a breakfast of champions. Lindsay sat with some ice cream and waffles and Danny had a mixture of something or other.

"Morning." Ellie squeaked out. The two looked up and smiled.

"Hey, you want some breakfast? We got, cereal, waffles, basically everything you could think of." Danny said pointing to the fridge. "Help yourself." She walked over and picked up an apple that looked pretty good to her. She walked back and sat down watching the two.

"So um... I was just wondering, who's gonna take me to school?"

"That would be Detective Flack. He's gonna be with you during the day if you have any trouble. He should be here soon." Ellie just nodded.

Her long brunette hair was pin straight, and bunched up a little from the headband around her. The dark brown silk shirt with short sleeves where rolled up a little bit making them a little shorter. Tucking in the shirt to the kaki shorts and viola, Ellie style on conservative clothing, she was definately ready for school.

Ellie looked at the time, 8:40. She was going to be late for school. She tapped on the apple before taking a bite.

"How's the shoulder?" Danny asked breaking the silence. He looked at her skinny arm. It was amazing it didn't exit. "Looks like you did a good job patching it up." She nodded smiling only slightly before looking back down playing with her apple.

"Thanks. It's fine. A stitch came out in the shower though."

"We can have Sid redo that later." Danny said reasurringly. There was a knock on the door before it opened.

"Traffic was horrible this morning, did you know that there's seven mcDonalds on the way to your apartment? Who the hell needs all those Big Mac's?" Flack called from the hallway. He wasn't one for McDonalds unless absolutely hungry. He walked into the kitchen, half dressed in only his white tank top and nice dress pants. He was sipping his coffee carefully not to spill anything, the man liked his coffee. "Hey Lindsay." He noted who just smiled as she had a mouth full of waffles. "You guys look like those after school special families. You ready to go?" Ellie looked at him and nodded.

"I'll just go get my backpack." She picked up her apple and walked away from the team who just watched her go. When she was gone Flack turned around and gave Danny a look.

"She reminds me an awful lot like you. It has to be the eyes, there's something about them."

"You lookin' at my eyes now Flack?' Danny asked as he got up picking up his dishes.

"Well you are an attractive man but I don't see you like that. Sorry Danny." Danny mocked him while his back was turned but his head bobbed a bit making Flack know exactly what he was doing.

"Okay, I'm ready." Ellie said quietly breaking through conversation. Flack turned around and smiled.

The ride to school was a silent one. Both not much for talking to strangers unless required too. Ellie watched out the window as the streets of New York passed by her. All she wanted was for what ever the hell this was to just go away. She wanted to be with Easton, even though the last time she saw him he was acting a little weird. She counted out the different stores that were down the streets. She almost got to forty when the car stopped at the school. _Fuck. _Was her only thought as she turned to Flack.

"Alright, I'll be with you for most of the day, you need me for anything, someone bugging you, have a question about the case, it's no problem, okay?" She just nodded and smiled.

"Thanks for the ride and... all of this, you really don't have to do this."

"It's my job." He shrugged before the both of them got out of the car. The bell for class to begin had just went leaving Ellie to run to her first period class. Flack locked the car door and started walking towards the school alone but was stopped by a very short girl. She was wearing skinny jeans with a little rip on them with a grey shirt with the word Billabong written all over it in different colours. She had pin straight, short blonde hair and her eyes were this nice blue colour.

"Can I help you?" Flack asked looking down quite a bit to meet her gaze.

"Your Detective Don Flack?" Flack looked around a bit wondering how this chick knew his name.

"Yeah, can I help you?"

"Harley Cooper. I'm here to help you? Chief Sinclaire told me to come see you." _Sinclaire never told me anything about something like this_, he thought looking at her. _Besides she looks like she should be enrolled at this school._

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure why your-"

"I'm here to assist you."

"What are you a co-op kid or something? I don't think this case is good for you right now. Don't want you to get-"

"Woah, slow down. I'm from the academy. Sinclaire wanted me to work this case with you. He said I could learn a lot from you." Flack just looked at her for a long time. What the hell was she wearing? "He told me I could blend in more if I wear street clothes, I can be closer with the victim and be there first if something happens." Flack sighed and nodded.

"Alright, Cooper right?" She nodded and smiled a bit. "Your show is on, and your late. Ellie has creative writing now, room 208." The new girl just nodded and walked away without a word. If he has to baby sit two girls, he was going to loose his shit.

Mac was sitting in his office looking over the print sample Tegan Russo gave after hours of interrogation. His prints were all over the shirt, but then there were secondary prints that AFIS couldn't identify. He took the simulation and watched it over again. He looked closer at the shooting and here they were aiming. There was a concentrated spot just slightly behind Zach. Mac watched the simulation one more time looking at direct hits around Ellie. Three of the hits that got the blackboard and the desks. All of them were near hits on Ellie. That didn't bring them any closer to the shooter but it did show who the shooter was aiming at.

Mac sat back looking at all the papers and files on his desk. He didn't notice the clicking of heels coming into the room. He moved his chair around slightly thinking hard about how to connect Sonny to the shooting.

"Did you go home at all last night?" Stella asked walking closer to the desk. Mac looked up clicking a pen he had in his hand before setting it down. He sighed getting up from the chair and walking towards Stella.

"There's something about this case. There's more about it than we think. Ellie has more of a role in this case."

"Should we bring her into interrogation? See what she knows?"

"She could possibly know nothing. We need to get into her house and find any files or letters, something that could point us in the right direction. Have Flack go to the office of the school and get her address off the system. You and Hawkes go when he gets it and bring back everything you can that shows how Ellie and her mom knows Sonny." Stella nodded. Mac looked back at the prints for a few minutes before finally getting up. Whatever is going on in this case will have to be solved later, after some breakfast.

He walked down to the busy city streets towards the nearest Starbucks, get some coffee and get his second wind. His mind was racing; how did Becca Briggs know Sonny. He wouldn't do anything stupid to get himself back under the radar again. He wouldn't want his name anywhere near a crime right now. So why the slip? It doesn't make sense. As he waited for the light to change he noticed Lindsay and Danny walk down the street towards him. Danny noticed him to and waved walking towards him quickly.

"Hey Mac. Going for your daily coffee?" Danny asked in a cheery tone. He held Lindsay's hand in his. Mac smiled looking at them together; happy newly weds, like Clare and him were.

"Yeah, it's been a long night. Do you want anything?" He looked at Danny then Lindsay.

"A grande vanilla Latte?" Lindsay asked searching her pockets before handing over a five dollar bill. Mac held out his hand, stopping her and smiled.

"Danny?" He shook his head no. The light changed and there was a rush of people walking onto the streets. Mac was washed away onto the streets by the sea of people, leaving Danny and Lindsay to walk the rest of the way to work.

Starbucks is the staple drink place for New Yorkers who need their daily fix of caffeine. Mac couldn't stand not going a day without his coffee; working 15 hour days can do that to a person. The line-up was long and boring. People talking on their cell phones, emailing on their blackberries, chatting to co-workers about how much they want to quit their job or about how much they want to kill their boss. _I wonder if anyone on the team would kill me if they had the opportunity? I mean they would know the perfect murder, know how to hide the body, no one would ever find me. _ He was lost in his thoughts and before long his turn was up at the cash register. A young looking barista took his order then quickly waved him off going on to the next person looking for their fix. Mac was a simple coffee drinker but the nearest good coffee place was a five minute car ride away, that's without traffic. He took the drinks once they were made and quick exit back to work, and back to the case.

The lab was in a furry of excitement as soon as he walked in. He was bombarded with people asking for his approval on different tests for different cases, people wanting to know his opinion on what to do, or say. He had his own cases to work on and really didn't want to be involved with any others, but being Mac Taylor he wanted to help out anyone no matter what the case was. He walked down to the police division of the building and saw Lindsay standing there with Danny talking. He walked over, simply gave her the cup and smiled a warm smile to her as she said thanks.

"Hey Mac, Can I talk to you?" Danny asked looking a little concerned. He knew that face. Danny never made that face unless it was something he couldn't handle by himself.

"Sure. Come to my office, we'll talk there." He half smiled and nodded starting to walk towards his office conveniently next to the test lab for easy access. Lindsay walked with them a little ways behind enjoying her latte the baby so eagerly wanted. "So what's on your mind?"

"It's Sonny. He came over last night and I think he found out that we're taking care of Ellie. I'm not too sure he saw her but his face clearly stated he saw something he didn't like."

"Well why was he there in the first place?" Mac asked concerned.

"He wanted to make sure that we weren't convicting him of something he wasn't doin'. He wanted to make sure that even if his name came up that he had nothing to do with that."

"But that just makes him the main suspect."

"That's what I thought. He could have been the one that wanted Ellie dead, but we still don't have a connection from Sonny to Ellie."

"What about her father?" Lindsay piped in. "The DNA test results should be done soon. Maybe he has the connection we've been looking for." Mac turned around towards her and nodded.

"Let us know the second you get the results. And Danny, we'll figure out another arrangements for Ellie. Maybe stay with Flack, or we can set up social services for her."Danny didn't argue with him. "Either way there is no way Sonny is going to get near Ellie."

After talking with Mac, Lindsay went to the lab to go get the test results. She checked the files and found nothing yet. She sighed shaking her head before walking over to the table where the shirt lay. She noticed Stella had worked with it and set it out for her not to long ago. Another one of the Lab Tech's was in the room testing the shirt for anything else they had missed.

"That shirt has been probed to almost nothing and we have absolutely no leads on it." Adam said walking into the room. He was late this morning, which was odd for him. He just slipped on his lab coat as he walked in. "Morning." He added.

"Morning." Lindsay replied wearily. "You must have had an interesting night." She looked up slightly seeing Adam blush a little with a nerdish smile.

"Get anything on the DNA test?"

"Still processing, but it should be done soon. Other than that we got nothing."

"Mac said Stella, Hawkes and Flack are all at the school looking for information about Ellie and any relation with the Tanglewood boys around the school." Lindsay nodded.

"So while we wait do you wanna tell me why your twenty minutes late for your shift?"

"Not really." He blushed more before looking down at the shirt. "I kinda met a girl. I don't know if it's gonna go far or anything I just... um-" Lindsay laughed with a little smile.

"You just want to have a little fun till you figure out if she's really the one to stick?"

"Yeah, kinda." Before he could say any more the roar of the DNA machine came on and it ran through some paper. Lindsay walked to the machine and looked at it for a moment as it came out. It took quite a long time for the paper to finally come out fully and once it was in her hands and legible, Lindsay didn't know what to say. "You okay over there?" Adam asked looking at her as she stared at the page for a while. It was just like back those years ago with the other Tanglewood boys case. Her mouth opened just slightly before closing. She was positive that this was a mistake. _Even if the test is 99.99% accurate... there's always that 00.001% chance it's wrong.... right? _


	3. It Could Be Gone In An Instant

**It Could Be Gone In An Instant**

_AN: Okay guys. Third chapter is here finally. Longer than I thought to upload which I is sorry about. Chapter 4 might be a long time cause I'm stuck so if ye'all got an idea that you want to see in it. Or something that could help me in any way, big or small shout it out loud! I wanna hear it. I'll be up north, (not like I'm not already ;P) camping all week and I'm bring the pen and paper to work on it. Like always please review on it. Hope you guys are having an awesome summer, it's almost over let's make it great. _

_xox_

Ellie sat in class like the days before, listening to her teacher talk about how just because it was summer doesn't mean you have to stop writing. Ellie was all for not stopping her writing. It was another boring day but with just a hint of a difference, most of the class was staring at her. She hated being stared at, one of her pet peeves. It wasn't even a full day and everyone knew she was the one that got shot. It made her mad that an event like that was now the hit new gossip around the school. _Just 5 more days... _The teacher kept everyone pretty busy with talking about what the kids were going to write during the summer time. She was in a grade eleven class, surely they were going to come back next year with their form of J.K Rowling or Stephanie Myers, something about the supernatural craze everyone was into. _Whatever happened to Lewis Carol or George Orwell? Now those authors were great._ The teacher was in the middle of talking about what author she's inspired by when a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

"Mrs. Cromwell?" A small voice called from the door. Ellie didn't even bother looking up from her paper which she was doodling on. "I'm Harley Mathews. I um... am here to sit in on your class?" The teacher looked down at her notes before nodding.

"Right. , have a seat anywhere you'd like. I was just about done talking about how Jane Austin inspires me." The girl nodded before rushing over to the desk next to Ellie. Mrs. Cromwell kept talking but was pretty much white noise to Ellie.

"So. I heard you were the one that got shot." Harley whispered. Ellie just nodded while she continued her doodle of a dragon chasing after a cat with a pair of nail clippers. It wasn't her most creative idea, but she liked it nonetheless. "I'm Harley Cooper, Just so you know. I'm not a stalker or anything. Flack sent me." She finally looked up and got a better look at the short girl. She just smiled at Ellie who didn't respond. "Pretty boring class you got there. How did you manage?"

"Lots of paper to doodle on. And cordless headphones." Harley laughed, looking at the teacher who was now droning on about the difference between books and movie adaptations. Harley cleared her throat and sat back keeping her eye on Ellie and her surroundings. People talking about what there going to be doing this summer, talking about the shooting. Basic normal teen stuff that was on their minds at the time. It bored Harley to tears, she hated high school and everyone in it... almost, she had her moments of fun with her friends. But she had her most fun in collage getting ready for the big leagues of Cops, like her dad. She loved each moment of it. Sitting in the classroom in high school, she still wouldn't redo it if she got the chance.

"So what do you do for fun?" Harley whispered to Ellie a few minutes later. She had finished her doodle of the cat and dragon and now onto an actual drawing.

"I dunno. Nothing really. Draw, read, write. I'm not to into the whole hanging out with people." Harley just nodded and smiled a little.

"Me too. I was never one for the whole group thing. I mean I did have a small group but I didn't hang out with them much." Ellie just looked up at with a confused look before looking back down.  "You look like a co-op kid." Ellie stated as she went back to her drawing. Harley snort laughed and nodded looking back at the teacher who was in her own little world.

By now the kids were just talking loudly ignoring the teacher altogether. Harley just wanted to kill herself in that moment. She swore she would never be in a classroom ever again. She looked over at a few kids hunched over something snickering a little. She eyed them for a little while before one of the kids looked up and laughed.

"Hey Ellie. Your smart at crosswords right?" She looked up slightly and nodded. Her face was unamused, wondering why they were talking to her, they never did.

"Oh that's a good idea Nick," Called out the teacher who stopped talking about how much the world has gone to hell because there's no more good books in the world. "Tell us what your stuck on." The kids laughed a little.

"What's a 5 letter word for 'Shot in the arm'." Nick and the rest of the crew laughed putting their heads back down as the others in the class just snickered around her. Ellie rolled her eyes setting them back on her drawing not paying any attention to the class.

"Alright class that's enough." Mrs. Cromwell said as she tried to suppress a laugh. Harley looked over at Ellie who was back in her world. She could have done something, say she could arrest him for harassment...

"Hey asshole. What's a 4 letter word for 'little prick'," Harley shot at Nick giving him a glare that could kill a man. He looked up at her with utter confusion, clearly he wasn't the smartest kid in the class. "Dumbass." She coughed out looking down at her empty desk. Ellie looked up at Harley briefly, hearing what she said. By that time the class was now back to their own conversations and the crew of assholes were back hunched over the desk.

Stella unlocked the door to Ellie's house using her fine techniques of B&E. Over the last few years working with Mac, Stella acquired a few things from different bad guys. Once they were in they were amazed. Everything was clean; no dishes in the sink, no trash anywhere, chairs were perfectly lined up in their proper place.

"Bet you any money there's at least 40 things in each room." Hawkes said as he brought in the kit into the kitchen. Stella laughed a little and shook her head heading into the living room.

"Just remember we're looking for anything that links Ellie and her mom to Sonny."

"We got a time of reference?" Hawkes called putting on his rubber gloves.

"Just grab anything that looks like Sonny was in this house." Hawkes nodded to himself before he started on the front door. Ellie said he came to the house, good place to start. Stella started in the living room looking in the cabinet on one side of the near the dinning room.

The house was pretty small, good enough for two people. The long hallway from the front door connected to the kitchen, a small bathroom and branched off into the living room and dinning room. There was a door that led to the basement under the stairs to the second floor. IKEA furniture was perfectly decorating the rooms. Stella wanted this house, it was just her style, she was looking for a new place anyway. Living her apartment was getting old, with to many memories that still haunted her.

She closed the cabinet after determining that all that was there were plates and fancy dishes. She moved over to the chest which was also serving as a coffee table. She moved some of the stuff remembering exactly where they were before and opened it. Old pictures and pieces of paper littered the whole chest. It looked as if it was already ransacked. She sighed ready to take on the task of looking through it all.

She started to take out the pictures of what looked like Ellie when she was younger and her mother in random places. They were always smiling genuine smiles in each picture. On the back of each picture, in neat scribble was different place names and dates. Bermuda, Spain, New Zealand, Russia, Germany, even China. They went everywhere. In chronological order you could see the stages of Ellie growing up, but the same happy smile still was plastered on both of their faces. There were other pictures of birthdays, random days where they went a little picture crazy. Ellie sure was taken great care of, which made Stella smile. Too many of her cases involved kids where they were neglected.

She set them off to the side and started on the random pieces of paper and letters that were more or less down at the bottom of the chest. Most of them were letters Ellie's mother wrote from a long time ago that she never mailed.

_D, _

_Look, this is hard for me to tell you this. I mean, it's still a shock to me still and I've been dealing with this for a while. I know you're probably mad at me for leaving the way I did. I want to let you know that it wasn't you I was walking away from. This wasn't how I wanted to tell you and I wish to god I could tell you in person. _

After that there was nothing left of that letter. She just stopped writing it. The date on the letter was 1991, that was it. Stella put it in a plastic bag and put it to the side. She took another one which wrote the same thing only a few words were changed. She took out all of them, all unfinished. She wanted to know who this D guy was, that's all that was written on the top, nothing else defining him as a person. She searched for one that was at least finished enough. Drawings, more pictures, report cards, nothing else. She took out the whole contents of the chest and went piece by piece, which frustrated her to no end.

After a long battle with paper she found a letter sealed with a New York address to Staten Island from this address. She carefully open the seal and took out the letter. The writing was neater than the others and the date was pretty recent.

_Danny. _

_It's been a while hasn't it? You probably have moved away and this won't get to you, but it's worth a try. I've spent years trying to write the perfect letter and I realized, I could never write it, it's impossible. You always said that was my worst trait. _

_You deserve an explanation for why I left the way I did and why my parents never told you where I went. I know it hurt you and I'm terribly sorry, but I had to do that for certain reasons. _

_You always said you never wanted to be apart of the Tanglewood Boys and I respected that, I still do. I know it was a much better option for you, and now I know it should have been a better option for me. I never told you how I knew Sonny or why I couldn't go out with you some nights, and I knew you had a feeling and you should have left me when you started having that feeling. Just know I liked you- loved you a lot and that's a lot for a sixteen year old to be feeling but it was pretty strong feeling. _

_I don't know if a letter is the right place for me to spill my heart out but I want to see you and explain in person. If you don't want to, I'll understand. My number is 212-765-9938 give me a call whenever you can, or want to. _

_I hope to talk to you soon. _

_Love,_

_Becca Collins (Briggs)_

Stella sighed with relief as she bagged the letter and the envelope. She looked at the letter for a second. She didn't pick up on it before; Danny, the name on the page, there was an actual name. She blinked before picking up the envelope. There was a slight coffee stain smudging the writing but she could see it if she looked closer.

"Did you find anything?" Hawkes asked walking into the now cluttered room. He stopped and looked around the mess spread out outward from Stella.

"Oh yeah." Stella said with an awkward look as she held up the envelope.

Gym class. Now there was a class Harley didn't mind. She dressed in sweats and walked out with Ellie into the small gym ready to get her aggression out on some chicks. Harley was always put in the guys class because of her.... aggression problem, but Harley never thought it was a problem. When all the kids were in the gym the teacher smiled this mixed smile.

"Today, since it's a nice day, we're going to go out side, and mix it up a little." There were a few murmurs from the girls talking about what might happen. One of the reasons why Harley hated chicks, most of them had voices that could hurt a dogs ears. "We're gonna play some football with the boys class." squeaks of excitement filled the room, which echoed around them. Ellie just kicked a rock that made it's way in the room, looking down the whole time. She wasn't as excited as the other girls were. "Alright so get out there and show them what you can do." All the girls cheered and ran out the side doors onto the field. Harley and Ellie lagged behind dreading seeing what was to come out of this plan.

"We could ditch class. I'm sure your teacher wouldn't mind seeing is how she's not even here right now." Harley suggested looking at Ellie. She shook her head and continued to walk.

"I've never ditched class before." Harley stopped and looked at Ellie as she still walked. "And I'm not about to ruin my record because there's going to be one huge orgy on the field." She stated calling back to her. Harley sighed walking slower behind Ellie. This was the part Harley hated about the job, under cover at a school! _Note to self, say no when asked to work high school jobs. _

Once they were on the field ready for action, it was just as suspected. The guys were tackling the girls and using unnecessary hands all over them. Shrieks of happiness echoed around the field as people were being touched inappropriately for the game. Harley watched from the sidelines complaining of a twisted ankle, seeing Ellie nowhere near the ball as she ran up and down the field needlessly. She had a look of unamusement across her face as she thought about just walking off the field. Harley felt sorry for the kid, no one should be treated like that ever. The only thing keeping Ellie going was knowing that in a few days this whole school would be in her past for the rest of her life and she can focus on college and getting her mother back, gaining that month she's been gone.

It was tough for Ellie to not have her mom there with her everyday. She hated not being able to talk to her about school or their annual mother-daughter trip to where ever they wanted to go last minute. She still had to give her mom the invitation to her graduation. A lot had happened since her mom left for the month, it annoyed her not knowing where she was, that 'I'll be fine' note was not enough for her. Ellie was deep in her thoughts when a stray football started heading for her head. She snapped out of it just in time to catch the thing perfectly, running as soon as it was in her hands. Harley watched in amazement as Ellie ran faster than she ever had before. Along the sidelines there were people who were talking but now stopped and watched as she continued to run the whole field to get a touchdown. There were guys around her trying to tackle her down, furious that she was getting closer, but they had no such luck slowing her down. The five foot seven twig had fast legs. Once she was in the end zone there was absolute silence as there was a wave of disbelief washing over them. She beat the football quarterback, half back, and all defense.

"Lucky break!" Someone called out not to far away. "Doesn't count the whole team wasn't ready and that throw wasn't regulation."

"Do you even know what your talking about?" Harley asked from beside him.

"Yeah, that question is dumb."

"It counts Chad. Get over it." The coach said patting him on the back. Others on the field got back into formation, quickly forgetting about the underdog's big break. Ellie sighed getting back to where she was and started all over again.

"Your a pretty good football player, if I do say so myself." A guy said as he stood in front of her. She didn't recognize him and thought he was just another one of those taunters.

"Yeah, thanks."

"You don't remember me do you." She shrugged. You could make out the sounds of someone calling out some football jargon, at least that's what Ellie thought it was. "Reid De Marco. We're in chemistry together." He laughed a little. "It's fine if you don't, you were always in the front taking notes and whatnot." She just nodded and waited for the play to start. "We have a football thing going on at lunch, a couple of us like to play without the whole rule thing, it's pretty fun. My team is kind of sucking and since there's some money involved we need to win. It's all or nothing. You want to play?" She looked around before looking back at him. "I could meet you at your locker and I can show you. You don't have to play today if you don't want to, I just want to show you, and hopefully be able to get you on my team to win. You'll get a cut of the money when we win."

"I.. Um. Ye- yeah, I'll check it out." The guy was genuine looking, a smile you could die staring to long with bright blue eyes. His side grin grew as he nodded.

"And don't worry about those guys around you, there just jealous cause they know they don't even have a chance with you." The play started and the ball came flying at them. Ellie caught it first and deeked around him running towards the end zone again.

The end of class did not come sooner as Ellie and Harley got the hell out of dodge. One more class before lunch. It was going to be a pretty busy class from all the culminating activities still going on. Her next class was ISAP. They each had to make a mental institution showing all the different programs it offers, where it's located, the staff, and what the blue prints were. Ellie was presenting today and wasn't prepared at all. She was going to study last night but all the stuff was at her house where she could get to easily. She had to rely on her memory to remember what was on the Que cards. She sat down in the back this time hoping that the teacher would forget her so she could have an extra night. As soon as the first bell rung, the teacher told the class a story about his past working in a mental facility.

"Alright, let's get back to the projects. Um..." He looked at the list he always had with him. Even though Ellie's had the same teacher for two years, he still couldn't remember most names. He always said 'in all my years of teaching I figured out that I can only learn a handful of kids each year. So be memorable.' Ellie was never the one to be remembered, just smart enough to keep her grades high. "Elizabeth Briggs. You're up." She cursed her teacher for picking her first but for using her actual name. She slid off the desk and walked up to the front. Harley was sitting there patiently waiting to see what she had come up with. Of course Ellie didn't even have her board for visual which she worked on forever.

"Um... okay..." She walked up to the board and started sketching out the front of the building and the floor plans. "So this is the building, spacious for the people to feel comfortable and not get claustrophobic. There's going to be at least 12 staff members per floor and each floor has a cafeteria." As she talked she started counting the people in the room. She went up row by row counting slowly trying to breathe. She made it to 34 when the teacher started to talk and ask questions, making her lose count.

"So where exactly is your project?" Ellie looked down for a moment trying not to think about counting again.

"I didn't have time to go and get it. I'm sorry." She muttered out.

"But you did complete the assignment right?" She nodded. "So if you had time to complete it you obviously had time to take your project to school."

"I was in a rush sir. If I could bring it in tomorrow." He just shook his head no and wrote it down. She sighed out loud and bit her lip. _Great, good time to slip Ellie! _

"Next." He said making her presentation stop short. She wasn't even done explaining. She walked to the desk quickly and sat down trying not to be noticed.

It was a slow rest of class but she made it out of there in one piece. She scurried off to go to her locker while Harley went to talk to the teacher for a minute. She unlocked her locker and shoved her bag in.

"Heard last class was horrible for you." A voice said from behind her. She turned around quickly almost colliding with Reid. Ellie sighed and nodded. "It's been a horrible two days for you hasn't it."

"Yeah it has." She locked her locker.

"Maybe I can help you get your mind off of your little experience." His voice had a hint of deviousness about it. She turned around and saw he was grinning a little.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked cautiously. She looked around seeing Flack standing on the other side of the busy hallway and Harley just coming out of the classroom. She turned her attention back at Reid who was taking something out of his sweater pocket. She moved backwards hitting her back on the locker making a slamming noise. Reid took a step closer, something shinny in his hand. He took her arm and clutched it tight painfully. "Ow. Reid that hurts, let go." She said calmly not wanting to make a scene. He moved his hand slightly and quickly but never connected with Ellie. Harley had moved around the students reaching over and taking his wrist pressing on it making him let go involuntarily.

"Wouldn't do that if I was you." Harley said harshly. It dropped with a clan, making some chick in pink to stop in the hall and scream. Everyone else stopped and turned their heads looking at what this chick was screaming in horror about. It was a pocket knife fully out. The blade looked new with a razored edge along the side, It was a bit bigger than it's standard size. Flack came around a second later with handcuffs ready to book him. "Don't even try and run bud." He let go of Ellie's arm and hung his head down. Flack cuffed him tight and took him by the shoulders letting Harley frisk him to see if he had any more weapons on him.

"I'll take him and call for a car to pick you guys up. We need to get Ellie out of here. Can you bag the knife?" Harley nodded and went to the locker beside Ellie's. Flack had ripped Ried away from Ellie who had a smirk on as his head was hanging low. Ellie couldn't believe that guy. He seemed genuine that he wanted to hang out with her, actually be nice. _This is why I don't trust people. _

Easton ran over as fast as he could to see Ellie. He looked freaked out and as soon as he was beside her he hugged her tight. There was another thing Ellie didn't get; his mood swings lately. He was pissed that he couldn't take care of her last night, didn't sound too scared that she was just shot yesterday, and now he's freaking because of a knife?

"Easton, I'm fine." Ellie said into his shoulder, not exactly hugging him back. She let go quickly and just watched his face.

"Hey dude. Your gonna have to step away from Ellie okay?"

"Who's she?" He asked in a harsh tone.

"Just some one helping me it's no big deal."

"Yeah it's a big deal, now there's going to be strangers controling your life? That's not fair."

"I know, it's not going to be for long I'll be fine. Just calm down."

"Yeah, right. I'm your best friend that's not going to happen. Look let's just come home with me."

"Not going to happen. We're taking her back to the lab." Harley said standing up from the ground holding the bag with the knife. "Come on Ellie, Our ride is gonna be here soon." Ellie nodded. Harley took Ellie's arm and led her away from the whole situation. People were still watching them as they left, some people were whispering as they watched them. Ellie looked back and watched Easton's face turned from freaked to pissed.

Lindsay had been keeping herself busy; cleaning the equipment, putting some old boxes of files away, anything to avoid seeing Danny today. She didn't know what to say to him. She had checked and rechecked the paper to look for anything that could suggest there was a discrepancy in the test. There was none. She locked herself in the room with all the old files organizing some of them from careless officers to lazy to stick them in the proper places. She was just putting away one of their old cases of a little girl missing for a few weeks, later discovered floating in the sewer system, when her cell rang aloud making her jump slightly.

"Hello?" She asked calming herself down.

"Hey, where've you been?" Danny asked from the other end. She sighed and shook her head.

"Just keeping myself busy. There's not much for me to do today, Stella's supposed to be back soon though."

"Why don't we get some lunch before then?" Lindsay wracked her brain trying to come up with a excuse not to see him right now. She was bound to blurt out something stupid at the wrong time.

"I um... What we're you thinking of?" Lindsay said slowly putting the box away before walking out of the room.

"Pizza? Anything you want really. What are you craving?" She turned the corner and headed to the lab hoping Stella was already there.

"I don't know. Ice cream. Cookies and cream ice cream." Danny just laughed through the phone.

"Alright. How about we go get some ice cream. It's getting pretty hot in the police department anyway. I'll come up." She sighed and said okay before closing her phone.

Danny raced upstairs turning sharply towards the lab. He was hungry and wanted to get outside on a nice day like today. He saw Hawkes and Stella unload a few bags from a box on the table. He opened the door and smiled.

"Hey guys. What do yeah got?" He asked looking down at the pages of letters they had collected early. They stayed silent as he looked them over. "These are all from Ellie's house?" They nodded slowly.

"Danny, I think we're gonna have to take you off the case now." Stella said cautiously. Danny looked up at her sharply frowning.

"Why? Just because Sonny decide to make an appearance? That's not fair. I may have been involved but I'm not going to compromise anything." Hawkes sighed before putting his hand in the box and producing two bags. He gave him the letter first and let him read it over.

"That's her mother." Hawkes said softly looking at Danny's expression. He had a blank face the whole time he read it over. When he finished reading it Hawkes gave him the envelope. Danny Messer scrawled neatly in the middle with the address of his old house.

At that minute Lindsay walked into the room slightly out of breath from the long walk. They all looked up at her except Danny who just held onto the envelope reading it over and over still letting it register in his mind. Lindsay put down her head before walking over to the side table, picking up the piece of paper she'd been looking at for the longest time. She walked over slowly to him handing it over.

"It's true." She said in a near whisper. "She's yours."

Harley made Ellie sit at her desk while she ran up to give the knife to the crime lab. Ellie started counting the things on Harley's new desk. There wasn't much to count, twelve things at the most. There was to much noise and to many people that looked like they could kill her. She looked around and saw that asshole Reid sit on a long bench waiting for Flack to take him into interrogation. Ellie shook her head before getting up and walking towards the stairs. She didn't feel like sitting in that room anymore.

She walked down the stairs towards Sid who, she thought would be there writing a report or working on a body. She didn't mind morgues, they weren't as scary as she thought. It's a part of life to die. She saw Sid through the window from the stairs to the autopsy room. she opened the door and walked in silently. The door rattled a little when it closed making Sid look up.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" He asked taking off his glasses. She shrugged and stood back.

"I was bored and wanted to see if you had a new book you were reading." She bit the side of her cheek nervously. There was a long white sheet covering a body, she could tell.

"Sorry. No new books to speak of."

"Oh. So I guess your busy with a body. Where was this one found?" Sid looked at her for a moment before looking down.

"In an abandoned apartment. Looked like it was there for about two weeks. Female, 30- 35. All her possessions, as we could tell, were still with her so it wasn't a mugging. At first glance it looked like blunt force trauma to the head." She nodded. "Um, you think you're okay staying here for a minute, I have to get something." She nodded again and he walked away quickly. Ellie walked around before picking up her cell. From what Sid said, it made her nervous about her mom's safety. She had to pick up this time, she can't be busy the whole time. I mean she was able to call a few times in the beginning, the text messages were slightly cryptic, only getting them a few times saying she was fine.

Ellie dialed her mom's number and looked down. She heard a buzz from far away as the rings were going on connecting the phone call. She didn't pay attention to it as she let it ring. She moved around the room and as she did the buzzes got louder. She looked around to see if Sid's phone was ringing but there wasn't any. She looked at the table beside the corpse, seeing the screen blink. She closed her phone making the buzzing stop instantly. Ellie frowned as she dialed her mom's number again. When the there was a connection and the rings started again so did the buzzing and the blinking. Ellie raced to her the phone looking at the screen. It read Ellie in purple writing. Ellie moved away from the table of possessions and looked at the white sheet. She closed her phone and put it away before ripping off the sheet of the corpse.

Right there in front of her, close eyed and pale was her mother. Dried blood in her brown hair and an old bruise on her cheek. She stepped back quickly bumping into the metal table of scalpels and knives. It scared her more, making her jump, she yelped slightly making her instantly cry. Sid rushed into the room concerned of what's going on.

"Are you alright?" She shook her head quickly covering her mouth. She just stared at her mother's lifeless face. He quickly walked over and covered her back up. When he turned her attention back to Ellie she was already out the door of the autopsy room and running up the stairs heading for the washroom. Harley saw her run into the washroom and she followed. Ellie ran into the first stall, not even bothering to close the door just leaned over and dry heaved. She could feel someone push back her hair and rub soothing circles on her back. They didn't say anything just sat there with her.

When nothing came up Ellie slid onto the floor and put her back against the stall wall. She held her phone tight and stared into space. Harley sat with her and stared at her worriedly.

"Ellie, talk to me. What's going on?"

"It's not her. She's not there. She's on a buisness trip and she's coming home soon. She's going to pick up her phone this time and she's going to tell me she's fine." She had a few tears in her eyes. She opened her phone up and dialed her mothers number again. She held her breath as it rung. The ringing stopped and there was a few seconds of silence. "Mom?!" She said hopefully holding her tears in horribly.

"I'm sorry. This is Det. Don Flack." Ellie's face froze. She put her phone down from her ear, her face going more pale with each second. Harley started to freak slightly. She could hear Flack's voice ask if she was still there. Her face twisted in slight confusion.

"Ellie?" Was all Ellie heard before everything went fuzzy.


End file.
